


What Has My Life Become?

by Elder_Schraderham



Category: Ghostbusters (Movies), The Book of Mormon - Parker/Stone/Lopez
Genre: Gen, Ghostbusters AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-23
Updated: 2016-10-27
Packaged: 2018-05-15 15:23:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 17,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5790628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Elder_Schraderham/pseuds/Elder_Schraderham
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The original four Ghostbusters are gone and handed down the packs to a new series of 'busters. A should be Mormon bishop leader, a hyperactive science fiction nerd, a badass little bumblebee that can pack a mean punch, and a ginger who's trying his best to impress the leader. Level ten ghosts keep popping up around the city and the ones making the calls seem to know more than the Ghostbusters themselves. The four start to think that there's more than meets the eyes going on and possibly need to call in reenforcement to help.<br/>AU created by turnitoffmckinley; both of us are doing our own takes on it. This is mine.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Chris Thomas was busily doing nothing when he heard the Ecto-1’s annoying siren down the block. He continued what he was doing when the car pulled into the firehouse and the passengers got out of the car. Four got out in the same tan coloured jumpsuits, all covered in what looked like green slime. The shot gun passenger was holding a strange box before handing it off to the driver of the car.

“Hello all,” Chris smiled to the new arrivals.

“Ugh,” they all responded in their own way.

“Wow, Connor. That green _really_ brings out your eyes,” Chris smiled to his friend.

The ginger, Connor, failed to make eye contact with him and simply flipped him off on his way by. The other two, a dark skinned woman and a chubby man said nothing and continued passed Chris’s desk. The remaining one, with the strange box, went up to Chris’s desk.

“Your hair is lovely today, Kevin,” he smiled. “What kind of product do you use?”

“Ectoplasm, asshole.” Kevin shook his head. “Calls? Jobs? Anything?”

“Uh, just an email thanking you all for your great job at the Element Hotel and a phone call from an older woman asking about some strange mist in her home.”

He groaned. “Address?”

“Montclair, New Jersey. I’ll write it down for you.”

“Please do. When did she call?”

“Bout a half hour ago. Want me to call her back?”  
“Please. Tell her we’ll be there.”

“Can do, boss.”

With that, Kevin proceeded to leave Chris to actually do work and him to take care of the box. He headed down into the basement and disposed of the box in the way that was programed. Box goes into a little opening in a decently sized red machine, waited for the red light to flip to green, and then remove the box. With it taken care of, he headed back upstairs and dropped the trap on a table with a few others that looked as if they needed a good clean.

His body ached everywhere as he walked up the stairs of their headquarters. Kevin proceeded to unzip his jumpsuit and take off the top portion and wrapped the arms around his waist just above his belt, revealing a black t-shirt with their company logo on it; a white ghost within a circle and a red slash through the front, trapping the ghost within the circle with no luck of getting out. Just like the company. Ghostbusters. Trapping ghosts and them not having a slim chance of ever getting out again.

Once upstairs, he only saw one of his teammates on one of the bar stools around a newly installed, and much needed, bar where she sat reading. He smiled to her and walked over to her. Quietly, he pulled out a bar stool next to her and sat down.

“Hey, Naba.” He smiled.

“Where do we need to go?” she asked with a sigh.

“How did you know that? Maybe I just wanted to talk to you?”

“I know you, Kevin,” she smiled a bit and looked up at him and batted her lovely brown eyes. “Where do we need to go?”

“I only need one other to go with, it’s not a big one. Small mist to deal with, could be nothing.”

“Arnold’s napping and do you _really_ think that Connor is going to want to go?” she raised an eyebrow at him.

“He could,” Kevin noted.

“Connor!” Naba called.

“NO! Whatever the hell it is, the answer is no!” he yelled from what sounded like the bathroom, probably fixing his hair.

“Please, Connor?”

“No!”

She smiled triumphantly at him. “There. So, I’ll repeat for a third time; where are we going?”

“New Jersey. Montclair.”

“Sounds fun,” she jumped up and headed towards the poles. “Meet you downstairs.”

And with that, she grabbed one of the fire poles and slid down to the main reception and garage. Kevin groaned and set his head down for a second on the bar top. Just as Kevin was standing up, Connor emerged from the bathroom. His hair was wet and looked much darker than it’s normal auburn colour. He stood by the bar.

“You okay?”

“Gonna drive to Jersey.”

“Goodie gumdrops. Anything major?”

“Chris said that some lady called about a strange mist. That doesn’t really explain _what_ it is though. Ugh.”

“Sorry,” he patted Kevin’s shoulder. “You have fun with that. I’m gonna get to work on cleaning the traps downstairs then do some paperwork.”

“Perfect, thank you.”

“A nap could also be put into play,” he smiled.

“Don’t care. All I’m worried about is the traps being cleaned.”

“I got ya,” Connor nodded with a smile. “I’ll also pray that we don’t have anymore calls for the rest of the day. That one this morning really took a physical toll on everyone. Who knows, we might have time for a movie night. We all need a bit of a break anyway.”

“Not a big deal. It comes with the job is all. If we do we do, we don’t we don’t. I gotta go,” he headed towards the poles. “I’ll see ya later.”

“See ya,” Connor forced a small smile and waved to him as he slid down the pole.

When he disappeared downstairs and left the old firehouse, Connor let out an over exaggerated, and much needed, groan. He needed something to flop down face first on.

“Connor? Can you come down here for a sec?” Connor heard over the loud speaker they had recently installed for easier access than screaming at the top of their lungs for another persons attention.

Connor groaned again and went to the stairs, not really feeling like sliding down a fire pole. Once he hit the bottom step, Chris smiled brightly.

“Thank you,” Chris smiled. “Your hair looks nice.”

“What do you want?” he crossed his arms.

“Is that anyway to talk to your best friend?” Chris asked with a small pout.

“Yes. What?”

Chris rolled his eyes and handed him a few papers. “These need your signature.”

“I’m not in charge here. Kevin is, wait till he-“

“No. You _four_ are _equal_ whether you realize it or not. Now please, I need to send these out by three.”

Connor checked the clock on the wall. 1:39. He sighed and nodded. “Alright, fine. Give me a pen.”

Chris handed him a pink pen with poptarts all over it with a smile. Connor took the pen and shook his head at the pen, signed the papers that were needed to be signed and handed them back to his friend. Chris took them and made them all even and aligned before sliding it into a large envelope and clasping it shut.

“So, I heard your very loud groan upstairs. What’s up?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am not. Nothing’s up, I’m fine.”

“Kevin again?”

“How fucking hard is it to send signals that I like him?” Connor exclaimed.

“Apparently very. That poor man is trying to run this whole company by himself when he knows he doesn’t have to. You’ve all been really busy and barely have time to even _think_ let alone anything else regarding relationship statuses. Give it time to slow down, Con.”

“I’ve been sending him messages-“

“You’ve all been busy,” Chris reiterated.

“Even so.”

“Even so nothing. I don’t wanna hear that kinda excuse. You did your part. Don’t worry about it too much, okay? Just relax and let things breathe for a few days or so. Maybe if things start to slow down, then try again. But for now, don’t worry about it.”

“Chris, wanna know how hard it is working with him?”

“I don’t know, Connor. I never even get to see my boyfriend. We both work stupid hours and I don’t know how hard it is for you, but it’s hard for me in a different way. I’d do anything to see him more often than when he comes in here to write a report about the Ghostbuster’s newest trap or whatever.”

Speaking of the devil, a dirty blonde male in a pair of brown pants and a crimson and white baseball tee walked in the front door. He carried a notebook in his hand and a pen behind his ear. Thick rimmed square glasses sat upon his face and his smile brightened up the whole room as he stared directly at Chris.

“Wow, you’re good,” Connor crossed his arms. “Hello James.”

“Hi, Connor. Nice to see you too.” James smiled. He then sat on top of Chris’s desk. “Hey, babe.”

“We were just talking about you,” Chris smiled.

“Oh yeah?” James smiled as he leaned down and kissed his boyfriend gingerly on the lips.

Chris smiled into the kiss before James pulled away and crossed his legs before opening up his notebook and grabbing for his pen. “So, Mr. McKinley,” he joked as he read the black and red name tag embroidered on Connor’s tan jumpsuit. “What can you tell me about last week’s Element Hotel job?”

“That’s a week old, James.”

“Okay, well it’s not my god damn fault that my idiot editor didn’t give me the fucking story last week after it happened. He gave it to me now and I need to get this done for next week. Doesn’t matter cause this is going in a magazine, not newspaper. Anyway. Can you give me any details at all?”

“What do you want to know?”

“Anything! I need to write a killer story.”

Connor began to ramble off about what happened in the hotel. Standard ghosty paranormal stuff. Ectoplasm in places, moving furniture, creepy whispers, mysterious winds, and disembodied voices. Then he went on to say how the split up in pairs to go around the hotel to cover more ground until he remembered seeing the spirit with Kevin and how they scoped out the area before Kevin called Arnold and Naba for backup. When they quietly got down there, the four of them trapped them using their proton packs and traps.

“It was a standard job, Mr. Church,” Connor concluded.

“I’d like a second opinion.”

“Fresh outta luck, Church. Kev and Naba are out and Arnold is sleeping.”

“Balls…” he sighed and capped his pen after he was done writing. “Can I use artistic license?”

“No,” he shook his head.

“What if I make you all sound good?”

“Maybe. We get first draft to approve or not.”

James pondered over it for a moment before nodding. “Deal.”

The two shook hands. Once that was concluded, James smiled back down to Chris.

“I miss you, Chrisy.” 

“Miss you too, Jamesy.”

“Gag me with a spoon,” Connor pretended to gag before heading upstairs again.

The two waited till Connor was out of the room before James cupped Chris’s face and kissed him passionately on the lips. Chris managed to take James’s glasses off before he stood up and straddled between his still crossed legs. He wrapped his arms around the back of his neck and deepened the kiss to James’ luck.

“Do you have to get back to the office anytime soon?” Chris asked, pulling away slightly from his lips.

“3,” he responded and brought his lips back to kiss Chris. After a few seconds he pulled away. “Closet?”

“Connor’s office is free and I can still hear the phone, just in case.”

James smiled devilishly and grabbed Chris’s hand and drug him into the office. It didn’t take long for them to do what they needed to do and get redressed and clean up the office like they had found it. The two walked back out to Chris’s desk.

“When will you be home?” he asked.

“Depends on how quickly I can write this story up,” he frowned. “I’m sorry. I promise I’ll keep you posted.”

“Just want to know if I should wait up for you or not.”

“I’ll let you know, babe.”

James checked the clock by the stairs and sighed. “It’s a little after two. I have to head back to the office.”

“Lame.”

“I know, I’m sorry. Honestly, us spending this little bit of time together was really needed.”

“It was. I’m happy you stayed longer this time.”

“Me too,” James leaned down and gave him one final kiss on the lips before grabbing his things. “I gotta go. I love you.” He started off towards the door.

“I love you too,” Chris smiled. “See you at home.”

“Till tonight,” he spun around and bowed to him, “my love.”

Chris giggled a bit and waved a bit to James as he exited the firehouse. Now that he was gone, the blonde man was bored again. All that was left to do was to actually work on paperwork. It was a long way till six o’clock. A very long way.


	2. Chapter 2

The drive to Montclair was going to take a little under a half hour. Not even two blocks away from the firehouse, Naba turned to Kevin with a huge smile. At a stop light, Kevin got a glimpse of her in his peripheral and faced her for a second.

“Yes?” he asked.

“So. You and McKinley…?” she smiled widely.

“What about McKinley?” he questioned and continued down the road once the light changed to green.

“You know what I mean.”

“I really don’t, Naba.”

“Kevin, you truly are oblivious.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Of course you don’t. You have literally no clue, and it’s killing that poor boy.”

“Naba, what are you babbling about?”

“Slowly and slowly tearing that boy apart, piece by piece… Starting with his heart.”

“Nabulungi Hatimbi, what are you going off about?” he laughed, trying to get a straightforward answer from his friend and teammate.

“Ooh, full name.” she smiled, not even mad at him. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

“What the heck you’re babbling about!” He laughed.

“You really have no clue, do you?”

“Not one bit.”

She nodded. “Okay. Well, McKinley has this mega huge thing for you and has been dropping hints for like a month and a half and you’ve been totally oblivious to every single one of them. It’s driving him nuts.”

“Wait, he likes me?”

Naba sighed and smacked her palm against her forehead. “Kevin Price.”

“Don’t ‘Kevin Price’ me!” he retorted. “What about you and Arnold, hmm?”

“What about ‘you and Arnold’?”

“What are you two even doing?”

“Excuse you, we were talking about McKinley here. Let’s finish _that_ conversation before starting a new one, please.”

“Alright fine. Why does Connor have a crush on me?”

“What do you mean ‘why’? Why wouldn’t he? You’re incredible, Kevin Price. Anyone would be lucky to be with you. So why not Connor McKinley?”

“Cause he can do a helluva lot better than me,” he half shrugged as he pulled onto the bridge connecting Manhattan and New Jersey.

Naba smacked his arm. “Kevin, shut up. You’re something incredible and wonderful and smart and assertive and-“

“Please stop,” he laughed a bit. “Okay, so what then? What the hell am I supposed to do about him? I mean… I do like him. But he probably wants a different kind of relationship that I couldn’t possibly give him.”

“What are you talking about?” Naba grew concerned.

“I’m not one for… physical relationships… Like…” he paused and sighed, trying to find a way to explain himself. “I’m not into active sexual relationships. But before you say anything, lemme add the fact that I would not mind actually being in a relationship. It’s the whole sex thing I don’t get into. Everything else is fair game.”

Naba blinked a few times. “Oh-kay…?”

“I’m what the kids call asexual. I don’t find people “hot” or whatever have you. I like people for their personalities and don’t have any urges to take them and fuck them vigorously against a wall or whatever.”

The way he described that image made Naba bust up laughing. “Kevin! Oh my gosh, that was a mental image I did not want!”

“Well, it was the best way to describe it!” He laughed a bit. “Now that that’s out of the way, what about you and Arnold?”

“Again, what do you mean ‘you and Arnold’?”

“Are you two like an item or what? Don’t get me wrong, you two make a cute couple.”

She shrugged a bit and began to fiddle with the zipper on her jumpsuit. “I’m not against the idea of us dating and all. I mean, I _think_ we’re at that point. We like each other and all… I just don’t know. He’s very awkward about dating for real. Every time I go to grab his hand or something, he’ll get distracted and walk away. I know it’s there, that connection is at least, but we’re not totally _there_. If that makes sense.”

He nodded. “It does. Somehow…”

“Glad we’re on the same page, sort of.”

The rest of the drive was mostly silent between the two, only every speaking when there was a direction to get to the location or one of them saw a funny street sign or sign name. Kevin had thought a bit about what Naba had said about him a few minutes prior, then got a bit confused.

“Naba?”

“Hmm?”

“You think I’m assertive?”

“Okay, assertive was the wrong word. Determine is more like it. You’re very determine, Kevin. You set your little heart to something and you’ll do it. Like right now,” Kevin pulled up to the house on the address that Chris had written down. She smiled and continued, “Determination to possibly save a family’s life or something of that nature. Isn’t that why you got into this business?”

Kevin killed the engine and got out of the car. “I dunno, I guess. The only reason I got into it was because I was asked by one of the original members. I felt obligated to.”

“That’s right, you were the first who got us to join.”

“Exactly,” he nodded and went to the back. He opened it up and slid out the rack of strange backpacks.

“Do you think we’ll need proton packs?” Naba raised an eyebrow at him.

He shrugged, “I have no idea. It doesn’t hurt to have at least one on hand.” He grabbed a trap and strapped it to his belt.

“Okay true,” she nodded.

As Kevin closed up the car, Naba was happily skipping up the driveway to the porch to wait for her teammate. He slowly made his way up the driveway to join her at the front stoop. Once Naba decided he was close enough, she happily rang the doorbell and waited for someone to answer.

After a few seconds, and Kevin finally standing next to her on the porch, an elder woman in her late sixties opened the door to the two in matching tan jumpsuits. Naba smiled.

“Hello, we’re the Ghostbusters. I believe you called about a mist-“

“It’s not mist anymore.”

Kevin and Naba exchanged glances before the woman urged the two inside. She closed and locked the door behind the two and silently pushed them into the kitchen. The woman gestured to a small, very outdated, table and chair set for them to sit down. Naba sat on one of the chairs but Kevin opted to stand, on the account of his proton pack being so bulky.

“Tea?” she asked.

“Sure,” Naba nodded.

The woman turned to Kevin and he shook his head no. Once two old tea cups were full of tea, she walked back over and sat the one in front of Naba and she sat down herself. The woman took a seat next to Naba.

“I suppose you two must know what’s going on?” she asked, taking a sip of her tea.

Kevin nodded. “Yes ma’am. From the beginning, please.”

The woman turned to Naba and asked her, “is he always like this?”

“He likes to be formal,” she responded. That only made Kevin roll his eyes at her comment. “Price likes things to the books and make them as quick and painless as possible. But yes, we do need to know everything.”

“Do you live alone?” Kevin asked, adjusting the pack on his back.

“Oh yes, for some time now. Since my husband, Carl, passed away.”

“I’m so sorry Ms…” Naba trailed off, feeling awful not knowing the woman’s name.

“Marjorie,” she smiled sweetly to the dark skinned woman.

“Marjorie,” Naba grinned, taking a sip of the tea, “What a lovely name.”

“How long as this… mist, been around?” Kevin asked, finally getting antsy and walking around her kitchen.

“Just came up about a day or so ago,” she nodded. “I thought it was my husband at first, but now I know it is not and would much appreciate it out of my home. I think it’s starting to… manifest into something else.”

“Where is this said ‘mist’?” Kevin pondered as he continued to pace around her kitchen.

“In the den,” Marjorie stood up with her tea cup and began to walk back out into the living room. She then stopped at another doorway on the opposite side of the room. “In here.”

Kevin nodded and walked in. Naba was close behind him, acting as his backup. With careful eyes, Marjorie watched the two professionals walk around in her den. When she saw that they were both far enough away from the door, she shut and locked it.

Naba was the one that heard the door move first. She spun around and saw the elder lady in the middle of closing the door with a wicked smile on her face. Naba ran over to the door and began to jiggle the doorknob. Kevin had heard her footsteps quickly run to the door and he spun around to see what was the matter. He began to walk slowly towards her as he attempted to figure out what was going on in a short amount of time. After trying the knob and pressing against the door with no avail, she groaned.

“What just happened?”

“That old woman just locked us in here!” Naba exclaimed.

Kevin groaned next, very loudly. “Just how I wanted to spend my day… Locked in an old lady’s den in New Jersey.”

“Fuck,” Naba exclaimed, kicking against the bottom of the door.

Kevin put a hand on her shoulder. “It’s not worth it.”

“This is ridiculous! Hasa diga…” she spat in the general direction of the door.

With a frown, Kevin pulled her away from the door and towards the center of the room. “No need for that sort of language now.”

“I’m sorry, but I’m mad right now. She was so nice to us. Is this how she thinks we work or how we take care of things? If she does, she has another thing coming!”

“Naba, please. Just calm down.” He put both hands on her shoulder and forced her to look him in the eyes for that reassurance.

With a few deep breaths, she was finally collected once again. “Okay. I’m okay now.”

“Good,” Kevin nodded with a small smile to her.

“Now what?”

“I guess we just wait till this mist or whatever shows itself,” he half shrugged as he began to pace around the room.

She found a small chair with a floral pattern on it and sat down. “I’m half tempted to call Chris.”

“Don’t worry about the others. We can handle this.”

“Are you insane?”

“Listen, the quicker we can get this thing out, the quicker _we_ can get out.”

And with that, Kevin drew his proton wand and waited quietly next to the chair that Naba was sitting in. While in her sitting position, she undid the trap from Kevin’s belt so she could feel like she was doing something useful when the time came.

What felt like an eternity passed by, but when in reality it was only about eight minutes, a strange whistling noise began to fill the quiet den. Naba perked up a bit when she heard the noise. The whistling got a tad louder and she began to gently tap Kevin’s leg for his attention. He nodded in regards to the noise. Kevin looked down at her and mouthed ‘shouldn’t be much longer’.

Within seconds, a strange half mist half apparition began to appear by the writing desk caddy corner from where the two were stationed. Kevin prepared his proton pack wand and waited for the whole thing to appear. It didn’t take long for the whole thing to appear.

The top part of it was whole and almost human like; arms, torso, head, shoulders, some facial features. As for the bottom, it was just a jumbled mess of ectoplasm and mist. The thing floated in place for a few seconds, just watching the two Ghostbusters. It waited till the whole room was dead silent before letting out a blood curdling scream and charging at the two.

It only had a chance to get to the center part of the room before Kevin blasted it with the proton wand as a steam of orange and blue shot out of it and at the ghost. The blast had caused the whole thing to simply explode and grey ectoplasm sprayed everywhere around the room, mostly on Naba and Kevin though, but that was expected. Sometimes they could be trapped, other times… not so much.

Naba got out of the chair, dripping in ectoplasm, and attempted to get as much off of her face as she could. Kevin simply shook his head a bit and walked to the door and knocked gently to get the woman’s attention.

“Ma’am? The ghost is gone.”

Kevin heard the door unlock a few times and open to reveal the old woman again. She smiled to the two.

“It’s gone?”

“Yes,” the two nodded.

“Splendid!” she exclaimed happily and moved to the side so the two could walk out of the room. Once the two were standing in the living room, Marjorie went for her checkbook. “What do I owe you for this?”

“Two hundred for the removal, one hundred for equipment and gas, and an extra hundred for locking us in a room,” Kevin responded. “So, four hundred dollars in total.”

She nodded and wrote the check. Once completed, she ripped it out of the booklet and handed it to Naba, who forced a smile.

Kevin forced a smile, which seemed to look genuine, “Thank you very much. Hope you have a lovely rest of your day.”

“Thank you for the tea,” Naba then thanked.

“Thank you both for your job well done! Thank you, thank you!” she exclaimed as she opened up the door for the two Ghostbusters.

Kevin and Naba walked outside and as soon as they were both on the porch, she slammed the door shut. Half way down the driveway to their car, they both let out a long overdue groan. Kevin unlocked the car and wiggled out of the proton pack, with Naba’s assistance. The trap and pack went neatly back into the back of the car and Kevin locked it up nice and tight as Naba got in the passenger side door.

Before Kevin got in, he shook his hair a bit and ran a hand through it, doing his absolute best to make it not look like a gallon of ectoplasm wasn’t in his hair. With no avail, or hope, he ran his hand through it to make it spiked up before getting in the car and starting it up.

The entire drive back to their firehouse HQ was silent. There was nothing to say from what happened. The silence made the relatively short drive seem ten times longer than it actually was, and Kevin even drove faster than he normally would.

Once they made it a block away from the firehouse, Naba finally spoke up. “Mind if I shower first?”

“Be my guest,” he nodded. “I wanna clean that pack first before that goo seeps into the crevices.”

“I won’t be long, promise. I’ll let you know as soon as I’m done.”

“Take your time.”

Nothing else was said the rest of the time in the car. Kevin flipped on the sirens as he began to make his way into the garage. Once inside, he turned them off and parked the car. Chris’s smiling face greeted the two as they got out.

“So, how was it?”

“Don’t wanna talk about it,” Kevin responded, heading around back to get the pack covered in goo.

Naba silently walked up to Chris’s desk and dropped a slightly damp check onto the desktop before heading up the stairs for her shower. Chris hesitantly picked it up and looked over it a few times.

“Not a bad job. Four instead of the usual three for mist jobs,” he noted.

“She locked us in the room where the mist was located,” Kevin gave him a tired look with the gooey pack on his back.

Chris cringed, “she locked you two in a room with the ghost? Who does that?”

“Old women from Montclair, New Jersey apparently.” He shook his head and sighed. “Whatever. It’s done and over with. Anymore calls?”

“Nope. Nothing.”

“Anything happen when we were gone?”

“James came by and asked Connor about the Element Hotel job last week.”

“That’s a week old,” he raised his eyebrow at the comment. “Did he just come by to see you?”

“No,” he sassed, “James was here on work. He said that his editor lost the job and gave it to him a week late. Don’t make the rules or control when he does or doesn’t get jobs, okay?”

“Okay, okay, gosh. Sorry I asked then,” he held his hands up in defense before heading towards the basement door.

Chris frowned. “Sorry I got defensive.”

“No, no, you had a right to be. Sorry I asked about it.” He sighed again. “So no jobs?”

“Nope.”

Kevin checked the clock by the wall. It was almost five thirty. After a moment he finally spoke again. “You can head out early if ya want. I’ll pay you till your usual time at six.”

“You sure?” Chris arched his eyebrow at him.

“I’m feeling generous. Yes, you can go.”

Chris smiled, “Thanks, Kev.”

He forced a small smile, which looked very tired. “Don’t worry about it.”

And with that, he went downstairs.

Chris gathered up his things and cleaned up his desk a bit so things were organized. He took the check and dropped it in an envelope with a few others to be deposited the next morning before he started work. He secured the envelope with the money and slid it into his usual pocket in his messenger bag. With everything organized to his liking, he went over to the basement door.

“Thank you again, Kev. Night.”

“Night, Chris!” he called back up.

With a smile, he half ran out the door and that was that.

Downstairs, Kevin had undid his jump suit again and tied the sleeves around his waist. The last thing he wanted to do was clean a proton pack of ectoplasm as he was covered in the same type of ectoplasm. In the middle of cleaning off the wand, he yawned loudly.

“Sleepy?”

Kevin looked up and saw a auburn haired man standing in the stairwell with a small smile. Connor wasn’t wearing the jumpsuit anymore, instead he had on a pair of black sweatpants and a grey Ghostbusters t-shirt.

“Very,” he forced a smile.

“So,” Connor meandered his way down to where Kevin was working, “how’d it go?”

“Well, an old lady locked us in a room where the ghost was allegedly located.”

“Gross.”

“So we charged an extra hundred.”

“Smart, smart man.”

Connor sat down on one of the chairs and watched the other man as he cleaned the proton pack of the goo. It took him a minute to realize that he was covered in the same goo.

“It exploded, didn’t it?”

“Oh yeah.”

“That would explain the shower running then.”

“Naba called first dibs. I wanted to clean this before the ectoplasm got into the pack itself. Once that happens, it’s difficult to get out.”

“Right.”

Connor returned to silence as he continued to watch the man clean and work. It didn’t take him much longer to finish. Once it was all cleaned up, he set the pack on the floor by where he was working and proceeded to place his head on the desk top. Connor smiled a bit and patted his shoulder. After the first pat, he regretted his decision. Kevin was still covered in ectoplasm and it was now on his hand and he didn’t know how to get it off without getting it on himself.

After a few seconds, he grabbed the towel that Kevin was using to clean the pack and wiped his hand on it. That seemed to do the trick. He smiled a bit again.

“You okay?” he asked.

“Exhausted,” Kevin grumbled.

“You need sleep.”

He nodded. “I know. But things to do still.”  
“Like what? The place is spotless and our equipment is equally, if not more, sparkling clean.”

“Talking things.”

“People to call? Kev, people call _us_ to get work done.”

“Naba said you had a crush on me,” he lifted his head a bit to make eye contact with the other man.

Connor felt his face turn a light pink.

“I take it to be true?”

He didn’t say anything for a few moments. There wasn’t anything to say, Connor’s darkening red face said it all as he totally avoided eye contact with Kevin.

“I won’t be mad if you say yes. I just want to know.”

“I mean… I do… Yeah, sorta, kinda, maybe, yes…” he rambled off a bit. “But you can totally not feel the same way back and all that good stuff… I don’t care… Much…”

“Connor, I do like you.”

“I mean, I’m me and you probably- wait. What?”

“I do like you, Connor McKinley.”

“Ohthankgosh!” he let out a breath of relief. “I thought I made a huge mistake telling Naba that I liked you.”

“Oh no, you’re good.”

“So…”

“So, I should tell you now that I’m okay with that idea and what not…” he responded.

“Whoa what? Am I dreaming? Is this a dream? This cannot be real. Kevin Price, the guy I’m totally crushing on totally likes me back? This never happens to me!” Connor happily rambled like a middle school girl that found out her crush liked her back.

Kevin smiled. “No, you’re not dreaming. I do like you back. There’s only one thing that you should know.”

“I _knew_ there was a catch,” he sighed.

“I’m not into the whole idea of sex.”

“Oh, I already know that you’re ace as hell. I’ve heard you tell Arnold before when he was trying to be your wing man and set you up with girls before. I respect that about you Kevin Price, and that doesn’t change the way I feel about you. I can totally look passed the no sex thing. I’m down with kisses and snuggles.”

“I’m really glad to hear that we’re on the same page,” Kevin smiled.

“Me too,” Connor smiled like a school girl.

“ _Kevin Price, you are free to use the shower facilities_ ,” Naba rang over the intercom.

Kevin stood up and grabbed the pack to put back. Instead, Connor grabbed the pack.

“You get cleaned up. You need it.”

“Thank you,” Kevin smiled. “I’d hug you, but don’t want to get ectoplasm on you.”

“Thank you,” Connor smiled before running up the stairs to get a few seconds away from Kevin in case he did decide to get goo on him.

Kevin made his way up both flights of stairs slowly. Once upstairs, a dark blue towel smacked him in the face once he hit the bedroom wing. Naba smiled, a light green towel wrapped around her head. Kevin smiled to her and headed to the bathroom at the end of the hall for his much needed shower.


	3. Chapter 3

The phone remained silent from the time that they had their first job till nine that night. It was a safe assumption that they would finally have a night off after at least two weeks. And boy did the four take full advantage of it. Arnold ordered the pizza, Naba and Connor picked a few movies; and the four left Kevin alone on the couch for his much needed, and long overdue, break.

Everyone was in their comfy clothes that mostly consisted of sweatpants or lounge pants with a t-shirt; or if your name is Arnold Cunningham, then it consisted of a Chewbacca onesie. Kevin was doing his best to stay awake on the comfy couch. He was clean of all ectoplasm and his body was actually fully relaxed for the first time in a few weeks. Every once in a while Connor would walk behind the couch and ruffle Kevin’s hair, and that would normally wake him up for a few minutes before he dozed again.

Around nine thirty, a pizza delivery person dropped off their food and they were set for their movie night. Arnold set the pizza and breadsticks on their pool table.

“Food’s here!” he called so everyone could hear.

Naba bounded out of the bedroom wing and headed straight for the food. She smiled to Arnold.

“I like your onesie,” she giggled.

Arnold blushed. “Thanks…”

Kevin was half asleep on the couch when he felt someone tapping his shoulder. “Wakey wakey Kevin.”

He groaned. “No.”

“Come on, Kev.”

“Connor, no…”

Connor rolled his eyes and grabbed his arm and began to tug him off the couch. “Come on you stubborn, stubborn man.”

There was no way that he could be mad at Connor. He finally groaned with a small smile and stood up. Connor smiled, triumphant that he had gotten his new boyfriend off the couch. He wrapped his arm around Kevin’s waist and shook him a bit to wake up. Kevin smiled at the touch and shake and wrapped his arm around Connor’s shoulders. With the touch, Connor felt his smile get wider and his face get warmer.

“Awe, you two look really cute together,” Naba smiled at the two.

“I always pictured Connor ending up with a guy who wasn’t Kevin Price. Someone more like…”

“I swear if you say Luke Skywalker again, I’m going to punch you.”

“I wasn’t,” he avoided eye contact with the blue eyed man. “I was gonna say Han Solo…”

Connor just nodded a few times, letting that knowledge soak into his brain despite the fact that he didn’t want to know whatsoever. To make up for his comment, Arnold handed the new couple two beers. Kevin took one but Connor shook his head.

“Not in a drinking mood tonight,” Connor shrugged.

“Sprite okay?” Arnold asked, placing the beer back into the fridge.

“Sure.”

Arnold replaced the beer with a can of sprite instead. Connor smiled his thank you and cracked it open.

The four got their plates of food and returned to the living area where the TV was. Kevin, Connor, and Naba all sat on the couch. Arnold gladly took the bean bag chair that was next to the couch, and so happened to be next to Naba. Connor hit the play button on the DVD remote and the four began to watch _Pretty in Pink_ and eat their food.

About half hour into the movie, the four had piled up their empty plates on the coffee table in front of them and were now strictly watching the movie. All but Kevin. He was seated between Naba and Connor and was slowly starting to lean on Connor out of drowsiness. Connor smiled and wrapped his arms around him and pulled the sleepy man into his body to just fall asleep if he so wished. To his fortune, Kevin snuggled up on his chest and quickly fell asleep.

Naba looked over at the two and smiled a bit. “So cute.”

“Shut up,” Connor began to turn pink again.

A part of her mind really wished that Arnold would be like that around her. She looked from the new couple to the TV for a moment before looking over to Arnold. A smile tugged at her mouth when she saw that he had put his onesie hood up. She noted how adorably childish he was and that’s why she liked him so much. He was innocent like a child, and was just as lovable and caring. There was never a time that she never not felt loved around him. Now what was left was that initial step into actually dating.

Within no time at all, and a few tears being shed by Connor, the movie was over. Carefully, Connor handed Naba the remote to keep from waking the still sleeping man in his arms. Naba smiled and stood up to change _Pretty in Pink_ to another John Hughes movie, _Ferris Bueller’s Day Off_. Connor grinned happily. It was his personal favorite Hughes movie and always loved watching it no matter how many times in a row.

While Naba fast forwarded to the main menu screen, Arnold stood up and made everyone, who was still awake, popcorn. Naba had gotten to the screen just as Arnold returned with a big bowl of popcorn for everyone to share.

Kevin stirred a bit and finally had awoken from his small nap.

“Rise and shine, the world says hello,” Connor smiled.

“How long was I asleep?” he asked in a very groggy voice.

“About an hour,” Naba answered, hitting play on the movie screen. “We’re watching _Ferris Bueller_ now.”

He nodded and slowly began to move. “I’m gonna go to bed. You guys have fun with your John Hughes movie night.”

He managed to gently get off Connor, with a bit of help from the other man, and pad his way to the bedroom wing. Everyone smiled and said their goodnight. He held up a hand as his bit of farewell before disappearing into the bedroom wing. They waited till they heard his door shut before flipping the volume up a bit on the TV.

“I barely heard the ending of that movie,” Arnold pouted. “The volume was too low.”

“Now we don’t have to be as cautious about the volume,” Naba reminded him.

“Look at it this way,” Connor lifted his legs to a Indian style on the couch and got much comfier than the stuck position he was in for an hour, “at least Kevin’s actually getting sleep.”

“Yeah seriously. He’s definitely persistent,” Naba noted and adjusted on the couch herself. “But he doesn’t get the fact that he doesn’t have to go on every single job.”

“Yeah, good luck trying to convince him that,” Arnold rolled his eyes. “Whatever keeps him happy though.”

“He can go on as many as he wants and what keeps me here the most,” Connor smiled.

His smile soon faded when they heard the beeping on an incoming emergency call. Connor swore under his breath as he stood from the couch to answer the phone across the room. The entire time he was firing off any and every swear word he could conjure up. He stopped once he actually picked up and answered the phone.

“Ghostbusters. This is Connor McKinley, how can we help you?” Connor answered, mimicking a gun pointed to his head with his free hand.

He nodded a few times and took his free hand and wrote down on the note pad next to the phone. _Full body apparition. Throwing things around. Potential level six, maybe seven_.

“Your address?” he asked and scribbled it down. He repeated it back to them to make sure he got it down correctly. They had answered yes. “We’ll be right there.”

Connor hung up the phone and groaned loudly. “ _Fuck_.”

“So, what were you saying about staying here the most?” Naba smirked.

“Very funny,” he glared at her. “Come on Arnold.”

“Whoa, why me?” Arnold asked.

“Because Kevin and Naba went out earlier. It’s our turn and there is no way in hell I’m waking Kevin up for this. It’s a six, possibly seven. We can both handle this.”  
“But _Connoooor_ ,” Arnold whined.

“Suit up and in the car. Let’s go, I don’t want to go just as much as you do. We got a job and can charge extra. Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go.”

Arnold groaned as he stood up from the bean bag chair. The two grabbed a fire pole and slid down to the bottom floor to get suited up. Connor kicked off his sweat pants and pulled on his jump suit over his boxers and t-shirt. He was already lacing his boots up when Arnold reached the bottom.

Connor was already in the drivers seat of the Ecto-1 when Arnold was hopping his way to the passenger side as he attempted to pull his boots on. Connor sighed and he fought the urge to honk the horn to hurry him up. He was not going to risk waking up his new boyfriend after he’s finally had enough time to just sleep. Arnold jumped into the passenger side, boots not even tied. At this point, Connor didn’t even give a shit.

“Drive,” Arnold said, attempting his best to look cool.

With an eye roll, Connor started the car and sped off down the street. He waited till half a block away before switching the sirens on so they could get to the destination quicker.

Naba sat alone in the living room, still watching the movie and hogging all the popcorn for herself. She heard the distancing siren of the car from the living room. During the parade scene of the movie, Kevin padded his way back out of the bedroom.

“Did I hear the car?” he asked, obviously still dazed from waking up.

Naba smiled sweetly to him and stood up. “Kevin, back to bed. Don’t worry about it.”

“But-“ he went to start a follow up question but Naba silenced him and began to push him back into the bedroom. “Don’t give me that, Price. You need sleep the most out of the rest of us. If you keep this up, you’ll get stress sick.”

She guided the much taller man into his section. It was Connor’s idea to split up the bedroom. It was an old firehouse with all the beds in one room. There wasn’t much for privacy and most of them wanted their own little bit of space. So, Connor suggested that they were to put up dividers and divide the room up into six equal spaces so they could all have their own little room within the main bedroom. Kevin’s was in the front right. Naba lightly shoved him back into his small room.

“Bed, mister. You need it.”

“Naba, please.”

“Don’t give me that,” she sassed. “You need sleep. So you better be back in bed by the time I leave this room and I better not see you the rest of the night, and I will check up on you. Mark my words, Kevin Price.”

“Okay, _mom_ ,” he gave her equal sass back as he climbed back into his bed.

She smiled. “Goodnight, Kevin.”

“Night, mom.”

“Connor and Arnold can handle whatever the job may be, okay? Don’t worry.”

“I’ll do all the worrying I darn well please.”

“Bed.”

With that, he laid down and fell asleep by the time Naba closed his door and shut the main door to the room. She sat back down on the couch and picked up the bowl of popcorn and resumed what she was doing.

Five minutes or so later, she heard a door open and close. She sighed and stood up. “Kevin Price, I swear if you’re out of bed again-“ Mid sentence, she stopped. The bedroom door was still shut. Now she began to worry.

Naba paused the movie and headed to the pool table to grab a pool stick to be used as a weapon. Hesitantly, she grabbed one and quickly ran to the fire poles to use as a lookout. She tried to looked down to see who was downstairs, but to no avail. With a sigh, she ran quietly to the stairs and began to walk down them quietly. Halfway down the stairs, she began to mentally kick herself for not waking Kevin up to have a bit more muscle and to potentially scare off whoever is downstairs. Almost to the bottom, she raised the pool stick above her head in striking position for anything to be thrown her way.

She flipped on the lights and went to go attack the intruder, but soon stopped.

“Is this anyway to greet a veteran?”

“Sorry Dr. Venkman,” she blushed a bit and held the pool stick behind her back. “What can I do for you this late in the evening?”

“I was in the neighborhood,” he began to pace around. “Thought I’d stop in to see the old stomping grounds.”

“At quarter after one in the morning?”

“I’ve had a bit to drink,” he admitted.

By his movements and speech, she couldn’t tell. But then again, she never really seen him that much to tell the differences to compare. He minded his own business and sort of just wandered about.

“Where’s Ecto?” he asked.

“The guys went out for a job call. Level six, possibly seven.” she sort of lied. Only two of the guys had gone out technically.

“Exciting. And they left you here?”

“Just in case of any other calls for emergencies.”

“Is it still the four?”

“Yes sir.”

“Who were the others?”

“Price, McKinley, Cunningham, and myself.”

“Right, right,” he nodded, “I remember Price. Good kid, very level headed.”

Naba said nothing and just watched the questionably drunk man walking around the bottom floor of the firehouse. He didn’t say much, just walked around and occasionally took sips from a chrome flask. Naba had always heard stories about the original four but have never met them in person. Kevin was the only one to ever meet all four. This was her first encounter with a veteran Ghostbuster and it wasn’t feeling like a proper meet up.

He simply strolled around for a few minutes in silence, soaking up the place as a whole. Finally, he concluded his reminisce and walked up to Naba and smiled down to her. She did her best not to take a step back from the man, for he reeked of alcohol of various types.

“I’m not an alcoholic,” he explained.

“Never said you were.”

“My cousin was having a party and I was in the neighborhood.” She merely nodded. Venkman checked his watch. “Is that the time? I must be heading off, don’t want to worry my girlfriend too much.”

She nodded again. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Dr. Venkman.”

He stuck his hand out for a handshake. “Peter, please.”

“Dr. Venk-“ she caught herself and shook his hand, “Peter.”

“Never caught your first name, Miss Hatimbi.”

“Nabulungi, or Naba for sort.”

“Pleasure to meet you. Keep up the good work with the rest of those boys. Keep them in line.” He took back his hand and began to walk to the door. “Hope to read more good things about where this company is going. Have a pleasant evening.”

And with that, he let himself out the same way he walked in. Once he was gone, she let out a breath of relief. _Note to Chris, get new locks for doors_. She flipped the lights back off and headed upstairs. Half way up the stairs, she heard the Ecto-1 sirens down the block. Curious, she padded back down the stairs and watched the lights flip back on and the Ecto-1 pull back into the garage with two, very pissed off, passengers.

“What happened?” she asked, concerned with the two.

“I literally hate false alarms,” Connor bitched as he got out of the car and slammed the door shut behind him. He headed over to the lockers and began to strip back down into his sweats. “So, we get there no problem. Head up to the apartment and what do you know, a fucking false alarm! I’m fucking livid right now.”

Arnold had gotten out and began to undress like Connor was. “Who does that? Calls a ghost extermination business at twelve thirty at night, have them drive fifteen minutes there for nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“Yeah, we couldn’t even charge them cause we didn’t do anything!” Connor groaned and slammed his locker shut out of anger.

“Half hour driving, then another fifteen for parking and getting up there. For real, who does that?”

“Welcome to New York,” she shrugged. “Get this, you just missed Dr. Venkman.”

“Wait, like veteran Ghostbuster Peter Venkman?” Connor asked, arching an eyebrow.

“The very one,” she nodded. “He literally just walked in and walked around in here for a few minutes and left.”

“What’s was he doing here?” Arnold asked.

“All he told me was he was at a party in the area and stopped by. That was it.”

“Strange.”

“Very.”

The three had then walked back upstairs and turned the lights off behind them. On the way up, they had all agreed to start the movie they were watching back over for they were too wired to go to sleep anytime soon.


	4. Chapter 4

“Good morning new boyfriend,” Connor smiled happily to Kevin as he walked out from the bedroom the next morning.

Kevin was sitting at the bar with a cup of coffee and half a bowl of fruit loops. It was a bit after eight the next morning and he had been the first one up, a usual. Didn’t matter how many hours of sleep he actually got, he was always up early but in no way a morning person. Connor, on the other end of the spectrum, he was. He could get two hours of sleep and still be awake and alert in the morning. The other three assumed that he was potentially possessed by a demon or ghost or something. There was no rational explanation.

A tired smile spread across his face. “Morning, boyfriend.”

Connor smiled even wider and sat next to him at the bar. “I still like the sound of that. Boyfriend.”

“It’s nice,” Kevin nodded in agreement. “Like it was missing since we first met.”

“Exactly,” he grinned.

The auburn haired man stood back up to get some cereal for himself. He pulled down a bowl, a box of Trix, and a spoon. The colourful circles bounced into the bowl and when it was filled, he rolled up the plastic bag and set the box back where he found it. Bowl in hand, he walked back over to Kevin and sat down and began to eat his sugary breakfast.

“You know, it’s past eight already. Where do you think Chris is?”

“Doing something with James probably,” he responded. “No idea. He’ll be here before nine to eat all of our poptarts… again.”

“Okay true…”

They had a notorious habit of speaking of someone and they then show up. Not two spoonfuls of cereal later, Chris had walked up the stairs.

“Hello, hello my lovely Ghostbusters,” he smiled as he entered the main area. “How are you both this lovely morning?”

“I can see why you two are best friends,” Kevin noted, taking a sip of his coffee.

“True,” Chris nodded.

“So we had a total false alarm last night, Chris,” Connor crossed his arms over his chest.

“What?” Chris and Kevin asked in almost perfect unison.

“Naba didn’t tell you last night?” Connor looked at Kevin and raised an eyebrow at him.

“No. She threatened me to go to bed and I did as she said.”

“Well anyway,” Connor continued, “we get a call about a potential level seven ghost. So Arnold and I rush over there and climb up six flights of stairs, with packs mind you, and find out it’s a false alarm! So we come back here, all pissed off and all. We couldn’t even charge them because we didn’t do anything.”

“We should make a new rule about that if it happens more,” Kevin noted, eating another spoonful of cereal. “We can’t be rushing all around the city for false alarms.”

“Good call,” Chris nodded, finally breaking into the box of strawberry poptarts.

“Chris, please don’t eat all of them this morning. Arnold really wanted one and hasn’t had one yet. Share,” Connor gave his friend a look to guilt him into listening to him.

Chris completely ignored him and made total eye contact with his best friend as he opened up the box slowly, pull out a package of poptarts, open them, and proceed to eat them. The entire time he’s making eye contact with Connor, Kevin merely looks between the two best friends and shakes his head.

He stood up with his bowl of cereal milk and coffee and walks over to the kitchen area. The two are still making awkward eye contact with each other as they’re eating their breakfast as Kevin washes out the cereal bowl and places it in the dish washer. He poured another cup of coffee and added three spoons of sugar and gave it a stir before standing back to watch the strange stare down.

“You two, I swear,” he shook his head and headed back into the bedroom.

Once they heard his door shut, Chris finally began to talk without breaking contact with Connor. “So, you two?”

“Dating,” Connor responded happily, “since yesterday.”

“Congrats,” Chris nodded. “Maybe now you can come on double dates with James and I without feeling like an awkward third wheel.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

“I repeat, maybe.”

“You are so lame,” Chris finally broke eye contact with his best friend to roll his eyes at him instead.

“Okay, well, I’ll let you know when we actually have _off_ to do something like that! Hell, I don’t even know if Kevin and I will go on actual dates or just “dates” here where we do nothing with each other. I don’t know, okay?”

“Connor, don’t fret it. You all won’t be Ghostbusters forever. The original guys got away from this and so will you all.”

Connor nodded. “That’s what sort of worries me.”

“Why?” Chris asked, taking the other half of his poptart and sitting next to his friend at the bar.

“Well, Kevin’s been here longer than the rest of us. A whole year longer. Winston left first, and that’s when Kevin came on board with the rest of the team. Fast forward to a year later, and the other three left within a few months of each other and boom, we came along. There’s that chance that Kevin could leave before the rest of us have had our time here.”

“You don’t know that for sure. Kevin could stay just as long as the rest of you.”

“A whole year longer? Don’t you think he would want to do something else?”

“You should be having this conversation with him, not me. I don’t know, Con. There’s not much I can tell you. This sort of thing is between you two, not you and I. You can vent to me all ya want, Connor, and I’ll listen; just remember that anytime you need something. But also remember this; I’m not Kevin, Naba, or Arnold and cannot speak on their behalves.”

Connor nodded. “I know that, Chris. Sometimes I just need that little bit of assurance from someone that’s not one of them.”

“But I’m not them. I’ll give you my input but that’s it.”

The two perked up a bit as they heard the bedroom door open and close. Kevin walked back out in just a pair of black jeans and a phone up to his ear.

“Give me, like, two seconds… jeez, calm down,” he said as he headed to the stairs and half ran down them.

Connor and Chris exchanged strange looks. Both shrugged it off and assumed it was one of his parents or one of five siblings. The two continued to eat their breakfast in silence until Naba emerged from the bedroom in a pair of shorts and a pastel pink sweatshirt that had the I *heart* NY logo on it. She smiled happily to the two men at the bar.

“Good morning, boys,” she grinned.

“Morning, Naba,” the two smiled back to her.

“So, how about last night?” she questioned, going over to one of the cabinets to grab a granola bar for her breakfast.

“What about it?” Connor asked, arching his eyebrow with a smirk. “You fell asleep ten minutes after we started watching _Ferris Bueller_ again!”

“Oh stop it,” she walked behind him and lightly shoved him. “I meant before hand.”

“Which part? The part where we got fucked over or a questionably drunk Dr. Venkman stopped by?”

“Both,” she opened up the granola bar and took a bite. “Mostly the first one.”

“I know,” Connor rolled his eyes.

“Kevin just mentioned that we should put in a fee for any false alarms, especially after a certain time of the night. It’s really smart and you all don’t need to be dealing with that sort of thing late at night.”

“True, Christopher,” Naba nodded, “very true.”

“Don’t call me that, please,” he rolled his eyes and tossed the silver poptart wrapper in the trashcan.

The three upstairs heard a loud groan from downstairs. They all exchanged strange looks before they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Kevin got to the top and groaned again.

“Parents!” he exclaimed and walked back over to the bar with the rest of them. Kevin walked behind it and leaned up against the counter. “I swear, they’re driving me insane quicker than this job is…”

“What’d the lovely mama and papa Price want this week?” Naba asked.

“Mostly just checking up on me, seeing if I got my life together and _not_ doing this job.” He rolled his eyes. “Sor-ry mom and dad, I don’t want to be a bishop in the Mormon church like _you_ want me to be.”

“You’re a Mormon? Really?” Chris asked, actually interested now.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “But you can see how seriously I take it.”

“I’m sorry,” he nodded, actually genuinely sorry for it.

Kevin shrugged. “It’s whatever. My parents just don’t understand that I’m 22 and can make my own decisions regarding my life and future. If I want to bust ghosts in a tan jumpsuit, then I will. If I want to move down to Orlando and work for Disney or Universal, then I will. My life, my decisions.”

“Preach,” Connor and Naba said in unison. Naba held her fist up in the air in approval.

“At least you talk to your parents,” Connor began. “I haven’t talked to mine in a good solid three years. God forbid I tell them I’m gay and they freak the fuck out over it.” The others gave him a strange look like he had seven heads. Connor nodded and moved a bit of cereal around in his bowl. “I’m dead serious. Mommy and Daddy gave me a week to find a place to live and move out or go to therapy to attempt to “cure” my gayness. So, I became an honorary member of the Thomas household,” he then gestured to Chris.

“It’s really sad how my parents totally were okay with the fact that my best friend and I are gay. When they let him move in, literally, they made sure we were set in case of sexy time. Constantly they’d ask if we needed anything for sexual acts. Once, I found a box of condoms sitting on the sink in my bathroom. Like, thanks mom? I have a boyfriend that’s not Connor McKinley and we have our own stuff…?” Chris shrugged. “It was the thought that counted, even though James didn’t fit into the ones that she got me.”

“Ew, Chris!” Kevin cringed. “It’s not even nine! Don’t need to hear this sort of thing this early in the morning.”

Connor giggled a bit. “Don’t you need to finish getting dressed?”

“No.”

“Okay,” he smiled. “Will you work on the car and get all sweaty and greasy?”

“Uh, no.”

“Ew, Connor,” Chris mocked. “It’s not even nine!”

Kevin gave Chris a look. “Shouldn’t you be getting to receptioning or something?”

“Not till nine,” he smiled cockily. “I have,” he checked his watch, “seven minutes.”

“I let you leave a half hour early yesterday. You’re clocking in early today,” Kevin crossed his arms over his chest in victory.

Naba and Connor both looked at Chris for his retaliation. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He shut his mouth and headed to the stairs, head down in shame from his defeat. There was no denying that Kevin was right. Deep down, he knew he did owe them that. Once Chris was downstairs, Kevin spoke again.

“No, you’re right, I do need to finish getting dressed.”

“Or you could just walk around shirtless all day?” Connor asked hopefully.

“No.”

A frown formed on Connor’s face as his boyfriend walked back to the bedroom just as Arnold was walking out of it. As per usual with those two, they did a _Top Gun_ high five where they’d high five as they approached each other and then do another follow through high five when they were passed one another. Arnold smiled brightly at another successful high five completed.

“How? Just how?” Connor asked.

“How what? We can do that?”

Connor nodded.

“Watched _Top Gun_ with him once and it just sort of happened. Best friend intuition?”

“It must be,” he shook his head.

Connor finished up his cereal and put the bowl and spoon in the dish washer and headed back into the bedroom to actually get dressed for the day. Kevin had just zipped up a hoodie over his bare chest when he saw Connor walk by his open bedroom door. He then ran out and followed his boyfriend into his own room.

“Excuse you?” Connor smiled.

“What?”

“Lost, mister?”

“Nah,” he shook his head and followed him into his bedroom and flopped down on his bed. “I know what I’m doing and where I’m going.”

“Think you’re funny?”

“I know I’m funny.”

Connor rolled his eyes with a smile. He then looked over at his boyfriend at what he was wearing for the day. “That’s what you’re wearing? Just a hoodie and jeans?”

“I have nice shoes on,” he kicked up his foot to show off his nice black short boots. “Classy.”

“Okay, those are really nice,” Connor got really jealous, trying to figure out how he had better looking shoes than him.

“Told ya.”

“If you won’t leave, help me find something to wear.”

Kevin got off his bed and went over and stood next to Connor and they both looked into his closet.

“ _Not even nine in the morning and you guys got a_ big _one! All four of you needed for a level 10!_ ” Chris announced over the loud speaker.

“Wait what?” Connor asked before sighing heavily. “Fuck it, normal clothes can wait. Sweats are fine, right?”

“Sure, why not,” Kevin shrugged.

And with that, Kevin was first out of the room with Connor following closely behind him. Arnold and Naba were already downstairs getting into their jumpsuits. Connor and Kevin both slid down the poles and quickly pulled on their jumpsuits. In a rush, Connor just grabbed his boots and got in the backseat next to Arnold. He’d put them on in the car. Once Kevin zipped up his jumpsuit, he grabbed the address from Chris with a quick thank you.

Paper in hand, he jumped in the Ecto-1 and handed the paper off to Naba who programed it into the GPS. Barely waiting for it to calculate directions, Kevin started the car and headed out of the garage as the sirens blared. Chris covered his ears. The intensity of the siren was too loud for Chris to handle, and the echo in the large open space was too much to handle.

Arnold noticed a few of the directions that the GPS was spitting out. Curiously, he had to ask; “Where are we going?”

“Uh, 419 west 34th street. Webster Apartments. Why?”

“Connor!” Arnold smacked the auburn haired man next to him a few times.

He was tying his boots when he began to be smacked on the shoulder. “What? I’m tying my boots.”

“Connor, we’re being sent to the same apartment complex as the one from last night!”

After the boots were done and tied, he looked at the GPS in the front seat and sighed. “I’ll be damned…” He paused for a moment and just listened to the siren and take it all in. He sighed again. “If this is another false alarm, I’ll make sure that there’s a ghost in that place if I have to do it myself.”


	5. Chapter 5

The four remained silent for the rest of the drive. It wasn’t very long. The night prior it took Connor and Arnold fifteen minutes. This time it was in the day time around nine, so the drive took a bit longer, around thirty minutes with the traffic. Once at the location, Kevin parked the car out front of the apartment complex.

The four got out and Connor glared up at the apartment complex. Kevin nudged him a bit, trying to get his head back where it should be. Connor snapped out of it and looked into his boyfriend’s chocolate eyes and smiled a bit. He nodded, gesturing to make sure he’s okay. Connor returned the nod. With a smile, Kevin put his hand on his shoulder and lightly shoved him to the back of the car.

Arnold and Naba were already back there getting their packs on and assisting each other. Once they were done, Arnold handed a trap to Naba with a smile. The two smiled to each other, slowly turning different shades of red.

Connor rolled his eyes and helped his boyfriend get his pack on. “Jeez you two, get a room or something.”

“Or something,” Kevin gave Naba a look as he assisted his smaller boyfriend with his pack.

Naba shot a look at Kevin that seemed to stab him like daggers. He took a step away from her, actually afraid she’d hurt him somehow. Connor grabbed a trap and handed his boyfriend a PKE meter. Kevin took it and shoved it in his belt. Once everyone was ready, he locked the car and gestured for everyone to head inside.

Connor and Arnold walked in first, to their dismay. Naba pulled Kevin by the arm harshly and yanked him back.

“Ow, what?” Kevin asked.

“You know what,” she seethed.

“Okay, but you know what I mean though. Something needs to happen. Soon.”

“Don’t think I don’t know that?”

“Okay then what do you want from me then?”

“I don’t know!” she sighed.

“I can talk to him about it, if that would please you?”

“Please!”

The two walked in the door and were instantly bombarded with angry people that apparently lived at the complex. Connor had stepped back a little bit and ran into Kevin. The loud lobby was too much to handle with no form of any sort of organization. He didn’t want to deal with anyone this early in the morning, let alone twenty angry tenants.

He sighed, getting really fed up with all the tenants. Clearing his throat, Kevin began to partially yell. “Can everyone please be quiet for a minute and the building manager _please_ speak up so we can handle this quickly and quietly!”

The room silenced down and the other three gave Kevin a strange look. They had never seen him yell like that before. From the back of the crowd, a woman began to walk up to the four in tan jumpsuits.

“I am so sorry about all of this,” the woman apologized as she worked her way up to the Ghostbusters. Once she was up to the four, she turned and faced the rest of the tenants. “Everything will be taken care of shortly. If you will all please return to your apartments.”

Grumbles came from the crowd as they began to head to the elevators and stairwells. Soon the lobby was empty again and the woman looked up at Kevin.

“Thank you for coming so quickly. Things have gone from bad to worse in just a short while,” she shook her head.

“We were here last night,” Connor spoke, crossing his arms over his chest. “Came all this way for nothing. Why now?”

“I wish I knew!” she exclaimed. “Things were bad last night and then all of a sudden, they stopped just as soon as they came. So, we do apologize for the false alarm last night. This time, it is not.”

“Where’s the activity currently located?” Arnold asked.

“We’ve gotten the most complaints from the sixth floor and the basement.”

“How many?” he then asked.

“One, possibly two. Think you can handle it?”

“We’ve seen worse,” Arnold then responded in the most cool voice he could conjure up.

The land owner smiled brightly to the four. “Thank you so much for this. Well,” she clasped her hands together without breaking her smile, “I will leave you four to it then.”

She spun on her heels and walked to the stairwell and headed up, leaving the four in the lobby. Naba turned to Arnold.

“‘We’ve seen worse’?” she giggled. “Smooth. Very smooth.”

“Did it at least sound cool?” he asked hopefully.

Naba gave his shoulder a pat. “You looked tough saying it.”

“That’s good enough for me!” he smiled proudly.

“You good? I’ve never seen you yell like that,” Connor asked Kevin, quietly pulling him aside from the other two.

He nodded. “I’m fine. Sorry. Early, people, don’t go well together. Had to restore order somehow. Didn’t mean for it to come off as negative.”

“It didn’t, you’re fine.”

Kevin said nothing and regrouped everyone to begin the quick debrief. “What’s gonna go down is we’re gonna split up into two teams. Connor and Naba, you two take the sixth floor. Arnold and I will cover the basement. Use our walkie talkies to keep in constant contact with one another just in case of backup. Everyone have their packs and at least one trap?” everyone nodded. “Wonderful. Ready?”

“Ready,” Naba smiled, grabbing the proton wand from the pack.

“Ready,” Arnold grinned, happy to be paired up with his best friend.

“I guess so,” Connor shrugged.

“Love the enthusiasm, Con. Let’s bust some ghosts.”

The four brought their fists into a small circle for one giant fist bump with everyone. When they broke, they headed to their respected areas to hunt for the ghost(s). Arnold and Kevin walked to the stairs to head down into the basement while Connor and Naba took the elevator upstairs. Once the elevator began to go up, Connor soon realized how stupid it was that they were taking the elevator. Things that went through the mans mind from being exposed to the _Tower of Terror_ too much when he was a child.

Kevin and Arnold were already in the basement doing their investigation by the time that Naba and Connor got to the sixth floor. The basement was much larger than the two anticipated.  It was in two sections, upper and lower. When the two got down there and saw what they were up against, they both sighed deeply in unison.

“I’ll take the right, you take left?” Kevin asked.

“That’s fine.” Arnold nodded in agreement, pretty much going with whatever Kevin had to say.

“You want a PKE or Ecto Goggles?”

“Goggles,” he smiled brightly.

Kevin returned the smile and handed him the Ecto Goggles. The man happily placed them on his head and the two began to do their investigating. Kevin held out the PKE meter and waited for something to happen. He waited for anything paranormal to act up.

On the other side of the room, Arnold was checking every little crevasse for anything paranormal. Mist, ectoplasm, apparitions, anything. Compared to Kevin, Arnold had a different view of hunting ghosts. He would attempt to talk to them or communicate in anyway he could before breaking out a trap and proton pack. It was much more civilized than just firing at some dead person’s spirit.

Minutes ticked by and neither groups had been coming across anything and it was beginning to get annoying. Connor and Naba had gotten to the point where they were going through the tenant’s apartment on the sixth floor. Kevin and Arnold had made it to the lower section of the basement and they had found absolutely nothing.

In the basement, Kevin jumped a bit at the sudden rustling noise coming from his walkie talkie. He scrambled to put the PKE down and pick up the walkie talkie.

“Kevin,” he answered, like he normally would.

“ _I literally hate this building_ ,” Connor responded over the talkie in deadpan. “ _For real. If this is another false alarm, I’m going to freak out._ ”

“So, I take it neither of you found anything?”

“ _Nothing! None whatsoever! Like, who get’s off on calling a professional ghost hunting team for false alarms? Hmm?_ ”

“Connor-“

“ _Don’t give me that. What have_ you _come across?_ ”

“Nothing, okay? Let’s pack it up and meet back in the lobby then,” Kevin sighed, actually getting fed up with the whole thing. Connor was right. This was ridiculous. Another sigh escaped his mouth and he turned to Arnold. “Anything?”

“Nadda. You?”

“Nothin,” he shook his head. “Let’s head back up.”

The two worked their way up to the lobby again, growing more and more pissed off at the whole situation. By the time they got upstairs, Connor and Naba were already there and very pissed off. Kevin gestured for the three to stay where they were while he went to talk to the manager again.

He had found her in her office on the ground level where they were waiting. He knocked on the door and poked his head in. The woman was on the phone and held up a finger to Kevin as he walked in and waited for her to finish up. A few seconds later, she said her goodbye and hung up. A smile spread on her face and folded her hands on her desk.

“Is our little problem dealt with?” she asked, a bit too cheerfully.

“Listen. We did our part and found absolutely nothing. No ghost, no traces of a ghost, nothing. This is the second time that you’ve called us for a false alarm in under twenty four hours.”

“Well, what do you want from me then?” she moved her arms, crossing them over her chest instead.

“I’m going to have to charge you a hundred and fifty dollars for wasting our time and coming out here twice within a short amount of time. It’s a new policy.”

“Fine,” she snapped out and got out a check book. “Do I make it out to you or Ghostbusters?”

“Ghostbusters, please.”

She wrote the check out and angrily ripped it out of the booklet. “Here.” She spat and handed him the money.

“Thank you,” Kevin smiled cockily and spun on his heels to walk out the door.

The woman said nothing as Kevin walked out of the office and back into the lobby. He smiled brightly as he walked into the lobby and waved a check towards the three.

“You made her pay us?” Naba asked, a bit shocked and surprised at him.

“Yup. Second false alarm in under twenty four hours? Come on.”

“So, this going to be a rule now? People pay us for false alarms?” Arnold asked.

“Yes,” he nodded. “Now that this is a waste of time, back to the Ecto-1.”

With nothing else to do at the location, they headed back into the car to go home. Connor was pissed the most out of the four. Something was going on at the apartment complex and that bothered him to the core. There was a bigger and stronger force that was claimed by the building manager.

The drive back to the firehouse was a lot faster than going to the complex. Chris looked up from a stack of paperwork to see the four get out of the car, all looking pissed off.

“So, what happened?” Chris asked.

Kevin dropped the check onto his desk. “We’re now charging one fifty for false alarms. Just running that by you now.”

“Another false alarm?” Chris asked, shocked at what he was hearing.

“Same place as last night,” Connor shook his head. “Something strange is going on, and I don’t like it.”

“Well when there’s something strange going on, people tend to call you guys,” Chris said before busting up laughing.

“Not funny,” Connor groaned and headed up the stairs.

“Oh come on, that was funny!” Chris called up after him.


	6. Chapter 6

Over the course of three and a half months, nearly a dozen or so jobs had been called in about level ten ghosts. Nine out of ten times they were false alarms. This was getting old very quickly for the team. Getting called out on pointless jobs at stupid hours of the morning just to look for something that wasn’t even there. 

Stress began to pile up heavily on the four very quickly but somehow they all found their ways of coping with it all. Arnold liked to completely repress his stress by watching the Star Wars trilogy over and over and over again. When that was done, and he had time, he would watch all of the Lord of the Rings extended edition movies. Naba liked to work out and do yoga, which she had happily drug Connor along on more than one occasion. Connor would normally sit back and relax in a bubble bath with a bath bomb or dance it out. 

Except stupid Kevin who couldn’t get over all of his stress and got sick because of it. Naba had warned him on more than one occasion that he would get sick if he kept letting the stress pile up and go out on every single call. The false alarms were getting more and more of a pain in the ass and he ended up going on all the calls that came in so he could deal with the caller of the potential ghost. 

A call had come in at quarter after two in the morning and Kevin had to wake Naba up to go handle it. He heard the alarm going off and coughed into his blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders. It took him a minute to stand up and slowly pad his way to the door and over to Naba’s room across the way from his. 

She wasn’t too happy about being woken up, but soon agreed to do as he asked seeing how sick he actually was. With an ‘I told you so’ she made sure Kevin got back to bed and went off to check to see if there really was a ghost at whatever location. Despite her telling him to go to bed, he didn’t. More like, he couldn’t. Instead, he loaded up his laptop and sat on his bed watching Disney movies till he somehow fell asleep. 

Connor usually woke up after Kevin and the two would eat cereal together and watch something on TV before the others woke up. Getting up and heading out into the main area, he was surprised that Kevin wasn’t already out there. Curiously he went back into the bedroom and lightly knocked on his door.

“Kev?”

Connor opened the door quietly and poked his head in. He was greeted by a sneeze coming from his boyfriend.

“You sound lovely,” Connor frowned and walked into his room.

“Naba was right…” he sniffled, his voice congested as hell. “If I keep it up, I’m gonna get sick. Well, guess what…” Kevin then took his blanket to cover his mouth before coughing into it.

“Stay the hell away from me, I don't want to get sick!” Connor put his hands up and crossed his fingers to indicate that he were to stay back.

“I’m not contagious…” he rolled his eyes. “It’s from stress.”

“I have half a mind to kick your ass for letting yourself get so stressed, and guess what? The there half of my mind agrees on kicking your ass.”

“Not funny.”

“Funny.”

Connor smiled a bit and sat down on the bed next to Kevin and put the back of his hand on his forehead. “Mhmm, you have a lovely fever.”

“I could’ve told you that, captain obvious.”

“Wait here,” he stood from the bed and disappeared out of the room.

Kevin had paused his movie and waited for his boyfriend to return. He soon returned with another blanket that he carefully wrapped around him. 

“Thanks, babe.”

“You’re a mess,” Connor noted, completely stating the obvious again. 

“Thanks, really Con. That means a lot.”

He smiled and wrapped his arms around him in a hug. “I’ve never seen you sick before,” he kissed the side of his head, “it’s actually really cute.”

“Oh shut up.”

“You’re like a little puppy, no it’s so cute.”

“Can you not with the speaking thing? It’s a bit bothersome.”

“You’re just cranky cause you didn’t sleep all night… again.”

“You’re acting like you don’t know me.”

“Want me to make you some coffee?”

“Yes please,” he smiled.

Connor stood up again and kissed the top of his head. “You’re a mess.”

“Mhmm,” he proudly grinned. 

He smiled and headed out of his room, only to hear him sneeze again as soon as he left the room. Connor shook his head, just accepting the fact that his boyfriend actually looked cute as hell when he was sick. Or maybe it was the fact that he was wearing a form fitting tank top that made him smile. Yeah, it was probably the second one. 

Loud space like noises emanated out of the living room area when Connor opened the main door to the bedroom. Arnold was intently watching _Star Wars_ again. Which one, Connor could not tell. The heavier set man was cuddled up in a _Star Wars_ blanket as he watched the movie from his usual bean bag chair. Connor sighed. “Haven’t you watched those enough?”

“Haven’t you danced enough?” Arnold shot back.

His retort took him back a little bit. “Touché.” With that, he headed into the kitchen area and began to make a pot of coffee. 

“Naba awake yet?” Arnold called from the living room.

“Uh, I don’t know. Don’t think so? She could be at the gym or whatever. Why?” he meandered his way back into the living room as he waited for the coffee to brew. 

“Was just wondering where she was is all…” he blushed a little bit.

“You guys gonna like date or something? Like for real.”

“We don’t want to date in work or whatever have you…” he trailed off, making up any excuse he could think of. “Wouldn’t be right. Work always being in the way and everything…”

“Okay, well I find that a lie.”

“How?”

“Cause I’m with Kevin, who literally has no time for anything. We’ve done work dates and all but we still manage to have a functioning relationship. So what’s the difference between you and Naba, hm? I know she likes you.”

“She does?” he asked, completely clueless.

“Well, yeah. You didn’t know that? She really likes you, and I’m being totally serious here. She’s kinda mad that you two aren’t a thing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. How have you not know this?” Connor raised an eyebrow at his friend. 

“I… I don’t know…”

“It’s not like she’s really secretive of the whole thing. She’s sent hints… A lot of hints.”

“ _Really_?” he asked again.

Connor nodded. “Yup.”

The coffee machine dinged and Connor began to work his way back to the kitchen, waiting for Arnold to say something else. When nothing else was said, Connor opened the cabinet and began to look for Kevin’s favorite mug. Pushing a _Lord of the Rings_ mug out of the way, he had found the Disney mug in the back of the cabinet. He smiled and plucked it from the shelf, then went to fix the rest of the mugs so they didn’t break or fall.

He set the mug on the counter and grabbed for the sugar. Three spoonfuls of sugar went into the mug before Connor poured the coffee into the mug and began to stir once it was filled.

Uncertain with everything he was just told, Arnold watched the ginger man in the kitchen and mentally debated going to talk to him. After a second or two, he finally stood up. Arnold quietly made his way into the kitchen and stood next to Connor as he made coffee. 

“Yes?” Connor asked.

“What do I do?”

“About?”

“About Naba.”

“Talk to her. Just tell her how you feel. I know you like her. I know she likes you. You both like each other. Do something about it. Date her. Doesn’t even have to be much, just watch a movie together on the couch and snuggle. Do whatever you’re comfortable with. But you can’t get to that point without telling her how you feel about her.” 

“But… how? When?”

“I dunno,” he shrugged and grabbed the mug of coffee. “Just go up to her and tell her. Whenever you feel like it’s right.”

“Will it work?”

“I’m sure you talking to her will make her happy enough. Just… Just preplan everything you say, okay? Don’t want to totally mess anything up.”

He nodded, letting what Connor had just told him absorb and sink into his mind. Connor flipped off the coffee machine and took the mug back into the bedroom and into Kevin’s room. He was still in the same position as when he left him, sitting on his bed with two blankets over his shoulders while watching movies on his laptop.

“Holding up okay?”

“I’m sick, not dying,” he responded. Connor smiled and handed him his coffee mug. Kevin smiled a bit. “Thanks hon.”

“So, I think I convinced Arnold to talk to Naba about feelings and dating.”

“Oh?” Kevin raised an eyebrow at the comment, very interested in the newly formed drama. He took a sip of his coffee. “Finally… They needed to date like… yesterday.”

“Yeah really.” Connor snuggled up next to Kevin and rested his head on his shoulder. “So, what are we watching?”

“Well, _The Little Mermaid_ is almost over and was gonna find something else. What do you wanna watch?”

“What are you on? Netflix?”

“Yeah.”

“Hmm…” Connor began to go through his list of Disney movies he knew from his childhood, and from dating Kevin, to attempt to pick one. “What have you already watched?”

“Just finishing up _The Little Mermaid_ , _Peter Pan_ , I half slept through _Hunchback,_ and then watched _Mulan_. If that helps.”

“Ooh! Can we watch _Cinderella_? That’s my favorite princess movie.”

“Oh, yeah. Haven’t seen that in a while.”

The credits began to roll on the movie and then the recommended movies popped up. Thankfully, _Cinderella_ was on that recommended movies list and he clicked it. Connor decided to act like a little kitten and wiggle his way under the blankets that was wrapped around Kevin. He was trying so hard but not getting very far before Kevin finally adjusted himself and wrapped the blanket around Connor.

He smiled contently and snuggled up against his shoulder. After a few minutes, Kevin wrapped his arm around Connor’s shoulder and pulled him closer into his body. Connor had totally forgotten that Kevin was sick until he had to pull his blanket a bit to be able to cough into it casually. Connor smiled a bit and kissed his cheek. 

The two snuggled together as they watched the movie. About a half hour or so into the movie, Connor had gotten a text on his phone. He groaned and somehow managed to fish it out of his sweat pant pocket to check who it was. As the message popped up on his phone, he raised an eye brow curiously at the text.

“What?” Kevin asked.

“It’s Chris. I don’t know why he texted me when he’s obviously downstairs.”

“He better be downstairs…” Kevin muttered to himself more so than to Connor.

“No, he is. It’s a work related text…?” Connor had literally no idea. “All it says is for everyone to come downstairs. You have your phone on you?”

“It’s off, charging on the night stand.”

“Come on,” Connor jumped out of bed and smiled down to Kevin. “Let’s go on an adventure, sick boy!”

Kevin whined, “Connor, no. Movement bad.”

“Come on you big baby,” he happily tugged at the blankets around him until he gave in.

It didn’t take long for him to groan with a small smile and stand up. He made sure that his blankets were still wrapped around him comfortably before following Connor out of the room. At some point, Connor had grabbed his hand and began to happily tug the sick man along to the stairs so they could have a group meeting.

Once they got downstairs, everyone else was waiting eagerly by Chris’s desk. Naba had emerged, from what the others could deduce, the gym. Arnold didn’t have his blanket cape on anymore and proudly stood next to Naba in a pair of green plaid sleep pants and a Yoda t-shirt. The two had joined the group.

“Sorry to call this meeting first thing in the morning, but I got an interesting voicemail on the main phone,” Chris began to fidget with the buttons on his blazer.

“Why?” Connor asked. “Chris, what is it? Something bad?”

“Let me just…” he trailed off as he went to go hit the speaker button on the phone. 

“ _Hello, Ghostbusters. It’s Ray Stantz. I’ve been reading about all of these interesting cases over the past few months and felt like I should stop by at some point to see how everyone’s doing and handling all of this. Just do some routine checks and make sure everything is running smoothly. Not that I don’t trust everyone’s judgement, it just seems that there are a lot of strange things going on right now and feel like you all could use a veteran’s help. I’ll be there around eleven. See you all then, bye._ ”

“Wait… what?” Arnold asked when the message finally beeped off. 

“So, apparently Ray is coming _here_ at eleven. What are we gonna do?” Chris crossed his arms over his chest.

The others began to mutter between themselves until Kevin made a noise that was a mixture between him clearing his throat and a cough. Either way, it got everyone’s attention. “This is what’s gonna go down-“

“Kevin, shush. You’re sick. You’re not doing anything,” Connor scolded.

“Please shut up and lemme talk, please,” he kindly told him.

Wanting so badly to continue to argue with him, they had no time. Instead, he let out a breath of defeat and let him proceed.

“Thank you,” Kevin nodded to the smaller man. “This is what’s gonna go down. Naba and Arnold, I want you to on clean up duty. Equipment first. Start with traps and packs then work onto the others. When that’s done, it shouldn’t take you too long, start making this place look decent. Doesn’t have to be totally spotless, but at least presentable.

“Chris, Connor; I want you two on paperwork. Filing, filling out, organizing, anything and everything to make it seem like we’re a professional business. If it doesn’t all get done, just nicely throw the rest in a drawer to be dealt with later. If you both manage to finish before then, awesome. Then start working with clean up, please.”

“What about you?” Connor asked, placing his hands on his hips. “You shouldn’t be doing anything Mr. I’m-So-Stressed-I’m-Sick-As-A-Dog.”

“Tone down the sass, please,” Kevin gave him a look. “I’m gonna drink some day-quill and make sure the containment unit is up to date down in the basement. When that’s done, I’m gonna clean. At some point, every one should try to be on clean up duty. It’s not too awful around here, but it could be better.” He clapped his hands together and coughed into his blankets. “We clear?” Everyone agreed in their own way. Once everyone knew what was going on, Kevin nodded. “Alright, we got less than two hours. Break.”

With that, everyone went off in their own directions to do their job. Kevin coughed into his blanket again and headed for the stairs to ditch them. He didn’t get very far before he felt a hand on his shoulder. When he spun around, a pair of blue concerned eyes stared back at him.

“You gonna be okay for this? I just don't want to see you get worse is all,” Connor’s voice was full of worry.

“I’ll be okay. Don’t worry about me-“

“I’ll worry about you if I damn well please,” he retorted.

“Con-“

“Don’t give me that. I don’t want to see you bed ridden, okay? Just…” he sighed. “If I can’t make you not do anything, just take it easy okay? Don’t over do it. I don’t want to see you get more stressed which causes your cold to get worse.”

“I’ll do my best,” he smiled weakly to him.

“Not reassuring,” Connor attempted to smile back at him.

Kevin kissed his cheek. “Not to fret, hon. Everything will be fine.”


	7. Chapter 7

“Everything will not be fine. Everything will go to shit and everything is going to blow up in our faces. Magical,” Kevin nodded. “Things are going great.”

“Kevin, are you okay?” Arnold asked.

“I’m not sure.There’s a strange internal battle going on right now and I don’t know if I can even walk straight.”

“Did you learn the hard way that we didn’t have any day-quill?” Arnold asked, arching an eyebrow.

“Oh yeah. Wish someone would’ve told me sooner!” he snapped.

“You drank night-quill, didn’t you Kevin?” Arnold asked, a wide smirk on his face as he looked up at his taller friend.

“Yes.”

“At least you don’t sound _as_ sick,” Arnold offered, trying to make him feel better.

“Not helping,” he sighed and walked back into his room for his mug and carried it back out into the kitchen area. “Anyone know if we have any Redbull? Monster? Rockstar? 5 hour energy? Any energy drink that has lots of sugar and caffeine?”

“Redbull, bottom shelf of the fridge door,” Naba called from living room.

“Thanks,” he answered and grabbed one of the small cans.

Arnold walked over to his friend who was opening a can of Redbull and pouring it into his coffee cup, then proceeded to fill the rest of the mug up with coffee. He stirred them together and added sugar.

“You’re going to die.” Arnold’s eyes widened at what sort of concoction Kevin was making for himself.

“Probably. It’s better than this strange internal battle.”

“How are you functioning right now?”

“I wish I knew…” He shook his head and took a sip of his strange caffeine mixture. “Oh god, this tastes awful. Want a sip?”

“Thanks but no,” Arnold shook his head. “We can only afford one death today. When you do die, can I be the one to trap your spirit?”

Kevin put a hand on his shoulder. “I’d be honored if you would.”

Arnold smiled and headed back to help Naba move the couch back to where it was supposed to be. Kevin took another long sip of his drink and did his absolute best to keep it down. Connor and Chris were heading up the stairs.

“Paperwork is all set and done and we got time to spare,” Connor announced happily.

“Two people were needed for everything,” Chris smiled. “It was nice to catch up with everything and to get rid of all that obnoxious clutter.”

Connor sashayed over to Kevin in the kitchen and wrapped his arms around the taller man’s waist. “How ya holding up, sick boy?”

“Well. I’m not really sure. We didn’t have day-quill, only night-quill. So, I took that by accident. Now I’m having a strange internal battle between drowsiness and nervousness. To help, I’m now drinking the most caffeinated thing I could concoct.”

Curious, Connor took the mug from his hand and sniffed it. “Smells like coffee…” he trailed off and took a sip. Once the liquid hit his tongue, he gaged. “What the hell are you drinking?”

“Coffee and Redbull.”

“You’re going to die.”

“That’s what I said!” Arnold agreed from the other room.

“Maybe you should go to bed,” Connor suggested.

“No time. If I die, I die. Then Arnold get’s to bust my spirit. Done and done. Besides,” Kevin half ran to the front of the firehouse and looked out the window to see if there was anyone coming. “Dr. Stantz gonna be here-“ he was cut off as he saw a heavier set older man step out of a cab, “Right now. Great…” he spun around and headed back to the general population. “How’s everything look? Good? Good. We’re out of time. Chris, please run downstairs and make it look good. We’re technically a professional business.”

“Got it,” Chris nodded before running to the poles and sliding down.

“Everyone good?” Kevin asked.

“Are you?” Naba asked.

“No, not at all. This is going to be fun. Let’s go see how this all plays out.”

Arnold and Naba went down the poles to join with Chris. They made it look like they were fiddling with the packs. Chris had no more paperwork to actually do, so he did what he did best; read his boyfriend’s articles in magazines and clip them out for prosperity.

Kevin was about to head downstairs when Connor grabbed his arm.

“What?”

“I’m not so sure about this, Kevin,” Connor began. “You really need to be in bed, not attempting to run this company right now.”

“I’m fine.”

“You are not.”

“Even so,” he continued, mostly ignoring the smaller man’s pleas. “We have to get through today. At least for a few hours, okay?”

“After he leaves, then will you go to bed?”

He sighed. “I suppose.”

“Come on,” Connor wrapped an arm around his waist and began to lead him to the stairs. “We have to make it a few hours.”

The two walked down the stairs, arms around one another. One for support from falling over and passing out on the floor. The other for the snuggles. Both good reasons. Either way, neither cared about showing their affections towards one another with Dr. Stantz around. He was very laid back and probably wouldn’t even notice.

When the two rounded the small corner at the staircase, they were greeted with a warm smile from the older Ghostbuster.

“Nice to see you again, Kevin,” he greeted.

“Long time no see, Raymond,” he responded with a smile.

“Seems you’ve created a great team here,” Ray nodded approvingly looking at the new Ghostbusters in front of him.

“Oh yes,” he nodded. “This is Connor McKinley,” Kevin smiled and hugged his shoulder tightly enough to make the auburn haired man smile. He then gestured to Arnold and Naba. “That’s Arnold Cunningham and Naba Hatimbi.” From the side, Chris cleared his throat; waiting for his introduction. Kevin sighed. “And that’s Chris Thomas.”

“It’s nice to meet all of you face to face. I’ve read so much about how the new team is doing from the tabloids.”

“The tabloids treat us well. At least, the only writer does,” Kevin noted. Chris smirked a little at the last portion of Kevin’s comment.

The others understood what he had meant, but it went over Ray’s head completely. Instead he completely brushed it off and went on with the conversation. “It’s nice to hear that the journalists treat everyone so well.”

Kevin just sort of smiled. “Right. Well, Ray, don’t mean to be frank, but what brings you back to HQ?”

“I’ve been reading a lot of the headlines involving the Ghostbusters and am becoming more and more concerned. Have you all figured out why there have been so many false alarms? Especially stemming from the same block radius?”

They all sort of shrugged. It was Kevin that spoke. “We really haven’t figured it out. We’ve just been kind of going to whatever call we get and seeing if real or not. Seven out of ten times it’s been a fake, so we’ve been charging more for wasting our time. Not even the customers can explain why the activity stopped so quickly.”

“It’s very odd and I would really like to help you all out.”

“Aren’t you a professor now? At Barnard college or something?” Arnold questioned.

“Yes, I am. For physical sciences. That doesn’t mean I still can’t devote some free time to the Ghostbusters,” he smiled. “Besides, all of these false alarms has really caught my attention. It just seems odd is all.”

“Do you think that they could be real and disappear cause they know we’re coming and they don’t want to get caught?” Naba inquired to the older man.

“That’s a good theory. Can’t be too sure though. I would like to do a few tests in the area where the most activities are happening. That’s if you all would want an old veteran’s help?”

“Welcome back to the Ghostbusters, Stantz,” Kevin smiled and held out his hand to shake.

Ray smiled and happily shook the younger man’s hand. “Glad to be back, Price.”

“Now, if you were to kindly excuse me; it seems that the night-quill is winning this internal battle and I would like a soft surface to collapse on for a while.” Kevin smiled before attempting to head for the stairs.

Connor rolled his eyes and helped his boyfriend up the stairs into the main living quarters. Confused, Ray watched the two younger men walk up the stairs. Once they were upstairs, he turned to Naba and Arnold.

“Is he okay?”

“Kevin’s sick from too much bottled up stress,” Naba explained. “He drank night-quill, thinking it was day-quill. When he found that out, he made coffee with RedBull to cancel it out. Seems that the night-quill is winning.”

“That sounds very unhealthy.”

“We know,” she nodded.

“He says I get to bust his spirit when he dies from the concoction he made,” Arnold happily chimed in.

“That sounds like a true friendship,” Ray nodded approvingly at the comment. “Now, I really want to get started on those experiments. Would either of you, or both of you, like to accompany me to run some tests?”

Naba and Arnold looked at each other and shrugged, both grinning. They nodded their yes to the older man, now very excited to be doing something with one of the original Ghostbusters. Especially because they never had the pleasure of meeting Ray before. They finally had the chance to talk to him and learn from one of the greatest.

The three piled into the car and drove off down the street, sans the siren this time. Chris sat alone in the now empty office.

“Typical…” he sighed before diving into that morning’s paperwork he set aside to be done.


End file.
